Author Comments

Classic top-down shooter with stat building and parts customization!
Multiple planets to see, weapons to collect, and big bosses to fight.
High scores and Medals available!

In the works since July 2010, the top-down shooter genre has been something I've always wanted to cover. Big thanks to Hyptosis and Kelwyshade for their art and music, otherwise I'd still be stuck with an unpolished engine. I think we ended up with a solid product, hope you enjoy!

Reviews

Rated 3 / 5 stars2011-07-21 05:08:48

Nothing too new or interesting.

I love good old Vertial shoot 'em up (shmup) games. I was born in '84, and I've played my fair share. The idea of being an ace pilot and taking on a never ending stream of opponents, dodging their assault, and razing the enemy base is something that will never get old. SHMUP, a genre that will -never- get old.

However, like any game in any genre it takes a healthy balance of creativity, originality, precedence (standards of good games of the same genre that came before it) for a game to truly be amazing.

THE GOOD
+Enemy Units: There is a diverse enough array of unique and classic type enemy units in this game. You don't ever really feel like there is too much of one enemy bearing down on you. I dig the variety.

+RPG Elements: Even if the RPG element in this game is shallow and doesn't really contribute in a -noticable- way to the performance of one's ship, no one can deny that they love the feeling of leveling up. And, hey, I guess every little bit does add up and help.

+Shop: Buying and selling upgrades/weapons is pretty awesome. Customizing your weapon types, and being able to upgrade your engine, shield, and mod adds a level of customization that you don't really get in other SHMUPs.

+Music: The music while not mind shatteringly amazing, is very fitting and doesn't get old.

+Bosses: A mix of classic themed bosses, and unique original bosses keeps a good variety going on. The user never knows what to expect at the end of a planet.

+Detail: I really enjoyed the level of artistic detail that a lot of things received in this game.

THE BAD

-Hit Box: The hit box for your ship is agonizingly huge. While it does provide a level of challenge to the game, the playing field, in comparison to the size of your hit box, is a bit out of whack thus landing this aspect of the game a negative score.

-Homing Missiles: They're good in theory. This game, however, has your missiles aiming for things which cannot be damaged. Missiles are supposed to chase vulnerable threats, not things which cannot be damaged (such as the little guys who glide along the right and left sides of the screen that form laser walls).

-Screen Quakes: This is absolutely stupid. It is mind numbingly stupid. Why are there screen tremors shaking everything around? There is already so much going on, the last thing that is needed is unnecessary screen shaking. All this does is server to frustrate players--in a bad way.

-Background: Oh lord, the back grounds are usually so busy and scrolling so fast it tends to hide the bullets which I am supposed to be dodging. While the background is well done, and a high level of detail was put into it (which is a plus, see previous section) sometimes less is more, and that is definitely the case here.

-Enemy placement: While it is nothing new to have enemies emerge from the bottom of the screen in similar games, they usually do not dart out and attempt to ram the player. Back-enemies are usually slow moving, and fire clumsy projectiles. They are not supposed to suddenly dart out and attempt to go kamekaze on the player. While it isn't a glaring issue, it crops up enough times in this game that enemy placement wasn't given enough attention.

-Power UPs: There aren't any. While the addition of a shop is cool, what is a SHMUP without power ups? Where is my temporary god beam, missiles, bombs, or health pack pick ups?

-Diversity: While there are a lot of weapons to choose from, most are just rehashed more powerful versions of previous weapons. Also some of the more unique weapons like the pellet gun (which actually fires short range wide waves) need descriptions, or more fitting names. You have a few basic weapon types. I was hoping for more creative weapons.

OVER ALL
This game, while it does have its unique and creative points, has enough flaws and issues that it is nothing special or unique to set it apart from the many that came before it. While I recognize the level of work that went into this game, and how hard it is to create a game in the first place this particular submission is only worth a 60/100 at best.
0chleft

Rated 5 / 5 stars2011-07-21 02:39:53

Whoa, classic arcade shooter!

In my opinion, this game is a combo of Zaxxon, Galaga and other shooters I have had the pleasure of playing in arcades. As far as difficulty is concerned it is hard but not amost impossible to beat as Sinistar or Defender was. (yup, arcades were my second home :)) The graphics are great and I like the music as well.

I have noticed many people found this game frustrating and diffucult; I understand their pain. However, this game embodies how difficult many classic games were. Games like this one require a positive attitude and patience. If you can play a difficult classic game from start to end and still keep your sanity then you can play any game well.

Thank you for a fun and challenging game; can't wait to play more of 'em!

Rated 4 / 5 stars2011-07-21 00:31:15

Rated 3 / 5 stars2011-07-20 23:41:43

Great game, but with lack of fairness

I used to play the Touhou Games a while ago, I think you know them. I have to say... they were hard but fair. This game isn't fair. There are situations where you just have no chance to escape at all. Sentry lights spawning in a way that you can't get through them, enemies which attack you from behind at nearly light speed so there is no chance to escape, invisible enemies spawning in the ship and so on... You have to learn the stages by heart and even then it's sometimes impossible to escape the enemies.
A game shouldn't be too easy, thats true. But it should be fair. This game isn't Great potential though. I'd recommend shortening the hitbox of the players ship a bit and making the enemies spawn in a way they can be escaped. You still can make this game hard, but make it fair.